Feeding mechanism and image processing apparatus using the same

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a feeding mechanism and an image processing apparatus using the same. The feeding mechanism includes an upper casing, a lower casing disposed opposite the upper casing, a sheet tray, a main feeding roller, a sheet-separation member and a first auxiliary roller. The upper casing and the lower casing form a transporting path. The sheet tray for loading a sheet is coupled with the lower casing. The main feeding roller for feeding the sheet in a feeding direction is disposed in the lower casing. The sheet-separation member, disposed at a downstream position of the main feeding roller with respect to the feeding direction, separates the sheet from another sheet. The first auxiliary roller is disposed in the lower casing and on a lateral side of the main feeding roller for feeding the sheet in the feeding direction.

This application claims priority of No. 098110551 filed in Taiwan R.O.C. on Mar. 31, 2009 under 35 USC 119, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a feeding mechanism and an image processing apparatus using the same, and more particularly to a feeding mechanism and an image processing apparatus using several driving rollers.

2. Related Art

In a conventional image processing device such as a scanning device, a printing device, or a multi-function peripheral, its sheet-feeding mechanism is designed to use a single driving roller, and has the following disadvantages: the single driving roller can not generate enough feeding force to feed a large number of sheets (such as over 100 sheets); additionally, the sheet may be skewed during a sheet-feeding process due to tolerance or wear of the single driving roller, which will affect the image processing result.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To solve the foregoing problems, the present invention discloses a feeding mechanism for feeding a sheet and an image processing apparatus using the same. The feeding mechanism includes an upper casing, a lower casing disposed opposite the upper casing, a sheet tray, a main feeding roller, a sheet-separation member and a first auxiliary roller. The upper casing and the lower casing form a transporting path. The sheet tray for loading a sheet is coupled to the lower casing. The main feeding roller for feeding the sheet in a feeding direction is disposed in the lower casing. The sheet-separation member, disposed at a downstream position of the main feeding roller with respect to the feeding direction, separates the sheet from another sheet. The first auxiliary roller, disposed on a lateral side of the main feeding roller in the lower casing, feeds the sheet in the feeding direction.

The present invention also discloses an image processing apparatus comprising the feeding mechanism mentioned above and an image processing module. The image processing module disposed in the transporting path processes the sheet fed by the feeding mechanism.

At least one auxiliary roller is added to the feeding mechanism and disposed on a lateral side or lateral sides of the main feeding roller for generating a feeding force to feed the sheet and increasing friction between the sheet and the rollers, and thus a large volume of sheets (such as over 100 sheets) can be loaded in the feeding mechanism and in the image processing apparatus disclosed by the present invention. In addition, adding the at least one auxiliary roller on the lateral side or lateral sides of the main feeding roller can balance the feeding force on the sheets, and thus skew of a sheet will not be aggravated. Further more, the skew of the sheet may be corrected to assure accurate positioning of the sheet during the sheet-feeding process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view showing the lower casing of the feeding mechanism according to the preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a top view showing the lower casing of the feeding mechanism according to a second embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a top view showing the lower casing of the feeding mechanism according to a third embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a top view showing the lower casing of the feeding mechanism according to a fourth embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a top view showing the lower casing of the feeding mechanism according to a modification of the fourth embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a cross view showing an image processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8 is a cross view showing an image processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings, where the same references relate to the same elements.

A feeding mechanism according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is elaborated. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the feeding mechanism 100 includes an upper casing 110, a lower casing 120 disposed opposite the upper casing 110, a sheet tray 140, a main feeding roller 150, a sheet-separation member 160, a first auxiliary roller 151, and a second auxiliary roller 152 for feeding the bottommost sheet.

The upper casing 110 and the lower casing 120 form a transporting path 130 for a to-be-fed sheet P. The sheet tray 140 is coupled to the lower casing 120 for loading the sheet P. The main feeding roller 150, driven by a motor M, is disposed in the lower casing 120 and at an intersection of a front-rear axis y and a first lateral axis x. A feeding force is generated by the main feeding roller 150 to feed the sheet P in a feeding direction D. The sheet-separation member 160 for separating the sheet P from another sheet is disposed at a downstream position of the main feeding roller 150, with respect to the feeding direction D, on the front-rear axis y. The main feeding roller 150 is exact in front of the sheet-separation member 160. The sheet-separation member 160 includes a separating roller 161 disposed on the lower casing 120 and a separating pad 162 disposed on the upper casing 110, both of which are made of high friction materials such as rubber, so that if the sheet P and other sheets are fed to the sheet-separation member 160, the sheet P is separated from the others by the separating roller 161 and the separating pad 162 to avoid multiple-sheet feeding. The first auxiliary roller 151 for feeding the sheet P in the feeding direction D is disposed in the lower casing 120 along the first lateral axis x. The second auxiliary roller 152 for feeding the sheet P in the feeding direction D is disposed in the lower casing 120 along the first lateral axis x. The first auxiliary roller 151 and the second auxiliary roller 152 are driven by the same shaft, where the first auxiliary roller 151 is disposed on a lateral side of the main feeding roller 150, and the second auxiliary roller 152 is disposed on another lateral side of the main feeding roller 150.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the first auxiliary roller 151 and the second auxiliary roller 152 are driven by the motor M to increase the feeding force for the sheet P, and the feeding mechanism 100 even can feed over 100 sheets. In another aspect, since all of the main feeding roller 150, the first auxiliary roller 151 and the second auxiliary roller 152 are driven by the motor M and in contact with the sheet P, the rollers have a larger aggregate contact surface area with the sheet P.

Referring to FIG. 3, which shows the second embodiment of the present invention, the feeding mechanism 100 includes only the main feeding roller 150 and the first auxiliary roller 151, which can still achieve the purpose of the present invention for stably feeding the sheet P.

Referring to FIG. 4, which shows the third embodiment of the present invention, the first auxiliary roller 151 and the second auxiliary roller 152 are integrated with the main feeding roller 150, the three rollers are formed into a long feeding roller.

Referring to FIG. 5, which shows the fourth embodiment of the present invention, the main feeding roller 150 is disposed along the first lateral axis x, the first auxiliary roller 151 and the second auxiliary roller 152 are disposed along a second lateral axis x1. Thus, the main feeding roller 150 and the group of the first auxiliary roller 151 and the second auxiliary roller 152 are disposed along different axes; however, the purpose of the present invention also can be achieved in this situation. Alternatively, the main feeding roller 150 can rotate at a speed different from that of the first auxiliary roller 151 and the second auxiliary roller 152 so that the sheet P can be deskewed. For example, when the feeding mechanism 100 executes a feeding operation, the main feeding roller 150 rotates at a speed for feeding the sheet P in the feeding direction D, at this time, the first auxiliary roller 151 and the second auxiliary roller 152 do not rotate. Then, the counter (not shown) of the feeding mechanism 100 counts that whether the actual step amount of the motor M achieves a predetermined step amount or whether a non-rotation time of the first auxiliary roller 151 and the second auxiliary roller 152 achieves a predetermined time after the leading edge of the sheet P passes the main feeding roller 150. If the actual step amount or the non-rotation time is achieved, the motor M starts to drive the first auxiliary roller 151 and the second auxiliary roller 152 to feed the sheet P in the feeding direction D. In other words, the sheet P is fed by the main feeding roller 150 in the feeding direction D, and the first auxiliary roller 151 and the second auxiliary roller 152 are in a non-rotation condition until the leading edge of the sheet P reaches the nips between the first auxiliary roller 151 and the second auxiliary roller 152 and their corresponding idle rollers (not shown); then, the motor M starts to drive the first auxiliary roller 151 and the second auxiliary roller 152 to feed the sheet P so that the leading edge of the sheet P is fed by balanced force by the first auxiliary roller 151 and the second auxiliary roller 152, and the skewed sheet P can be deskewed.

Referring to FIG. 6, the first auxiliary roller 151 and the second auxiliary roller 152 can be disposed at another side of the main feeding roller 150. In this embodiment of the present invention, the first auxiliary roller 151 and the second auxiliary roller 152 are disposed at an upstream position of the main feeding roller 150 with respect to the feeding direction D.

In addition, the present invention further provides an image processing apparatus. Referring to FIGS. 2 and 7, FIG. 7 shows a first embodiment of the image processing apparatus. The image processing apparatus 10 is a scanning apparatus in this embodiment and includes the feeding mechanism 100 described above and an image processing module 200. The image processing module 200 is disposed at a downstream position of the sheet-separation member 160 with respect to the feeding direction D and is disposed in the transporting path 130 for processing an image of the sheet P fed by the feeding mechanism 100. In an image process performed by the image processing apparatus 10, the sheet P on the sheet tray 140 is fed by the main feeding roller 150, the first auxiliary roller 151, and the second auxiliary roller 152 in the feeding direction D. When the sheet P reaches the sheet-separation member 160, the sheet P is separated from the other sheets by the sheet-separation member 160. Then the sheet P passes by the image processing module 200 and is processed thereby. Finally, the sheet P is discharged to an output tray 170. The image processing module 200 is a scanning module in this embodiment, such as a charge-coupled device (CCD) sensor or a contact image sensor, which performs an image sensing operation to sense the image of the sheet P. By the second embodiment of the image processing apparatus 10, referring to FIG. 8, the image processing module 200 is a printing module in this embodiment, such as a laser printing module to perform a printing operation.

While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements and procedures, and the scope of the appended claims therefore should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements and procedures. 

1. A feeding mechanism in an image processing apparatus for feeding a sheet, the feeding mechanism comprising: an upper casing, and a lower casing disposed opposite the upper casing, wherein the upper casing and the lower casing form a transporting path ; a sheet tray, coupled to the lower casing, for loading the sheet; a main feeding roller, disposed in the lower casing and along a first axis, for feeding the sheet on the sheet tray in a feeding direction; a sheet-separation member, disposed at a downstream position of the main feeding roller with respect to the feeding direction, for separating the sheet from another sheet; and a first auxiliary roller, disposed in the lower casing and on a lateral side of the main feeding roller, for feeding the sheet in the feeding direction.
 2. The feeding mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the first auxiliary roller is disposed along the first axis.
 3. The feeding mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the first auxiliary roller is disposed along a second axis which differs from the first axis.
 4. The feeding mechanism according to claim 3, further comprising a second auxiliary roller, disposed in the lower casing and on another lateral side of the main feeding roller along the second axis, for feeding the sheet in the feeding direction.
 5. The feeding mechanism according to claim 1, further comprising a second auxiliary roller, disposed in the lower casing and on another lateral side of the main feeding roller, for feeding the sheet in the feeding direction.
 6. The feeding mechanism according to claim 5, wherein the second auxiliary roller is disposed along the first axis.
 7. The feeding mechanism according to claim 5, wherein the first auxiliary roller and the second auxiliary roller are integrated with the main feeding roller.
 8. An image processing apparatus, comprising: a feeding mechanism for feeding a sheet, the feeding mechanism comprising: an upper casing, and a lower casing disposed opposite the upper casing, wherein the upper casing and the lower casing form a transporting path; a sheet tray, coupled to the lower casing, for loading the sheet; a main feeding roller, disposed in the lower casing and along a first axis and in the lower casing, for feeding the sheet on the sheet tray in a feeding direction; a sheet-separation member, disposed at a downstream position of the main feeding roller with respect to the feeding direction, for separating the sheet from another sheet; and a first auxiliary roller, disposed in the lower casing and on a lateral side of the main feeding roller, for feeding the sheet in the feeding direction; an image processing module, disposed in the transporting path, for processing an image of the sheet fed by the feeding mechanism.
 9. The feeding mechanism according to claim 8, wherein the first auxiliary roller is disposed along the first axis.
 10. The feeding mechanism according to claim 8, wherein the first auxiliary roller is disposed along a second axis which differs from the first axis.
 11. The feeding mechanism according to claim 10, further comprising a second auxiliary roller, disposed in the lower casing and on another lateral side of the main feeding roller along the second axis, for feeding the sheet in the feeding direction.
 12. The feeding mechanism according to claim 8, further comprising a second auxiliary roller, disposed in the lower casing and on another lateral side of the main feeding roller, for feeding the sheet in the feeding direction.
 13. The feeding mechanism according to claim 12, wherein the second auxiliary roller is disposed along the first axis.
 14. The feeding mechanism according to claim 12, wherein the first auxiliary roller and the second auxiliary roller are integrated with the main feeding roller. 